Belgium strips convicted jihadist recruiter of citizenship

A man found guilty in Belgium of recruiting jihadists was stripped Tuesday of his Belgian citizenship, a rare move which the country’s Flemish nationalists want applied more broadly in terrorism cases.

Fouad Belkacem, a 36-year-old born in Belgium to Moroccan parents, was sentenced in 2015 to 12 years in prison for heading “a terrorist group,” Sharia4Belgium, which sent jihadists to Syria.

An appeals court in Antwerp withdrew his citizenship on grounds “he seriously failed to meet his obligations as a Belgian citizen and posed a permanent threat to public security,” Belgian media reported.